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Manny Santos
Manuella "Manny" Santos is portrayed by Cassie Steele. Character biography and development First two seasons Manny is first seen helping her best friend Emma out of a jam involving a boy the latter met over the Internet and wanted to meet in person, but who tried to rape her. She begins her trajectory in popularity by joining Paige Michalchuk's Spirit Squad, despite Emma's complaints that it is sexist. When Manny refused to back down from Emma (or from Paige and Hazel when they try to take advantage), she gains their respect and a place on the squad. In the second season, Manny and Emma both fell for Craig Manning, a new student in Grade 9. While it was Emma who initially seemed to be winning Craig's affections, Craig surprised both girls by asking Manny to dance at an '80s dance for upperclassmen which Manny and Emma snuck into. A few episodes later, Manny and Craig went on their first date to a carnival. While Manny was head over heels, Craig was put off by how much Manny reminded him of his little sister, Angela (this is believed to be an inside joke by the writers; Angela is portrayed by Cassie Steele's real-life sister Alex Steele). He broke it off with her harshly, leaving Manny crushed. With Spike and Snake's wedding approaching, Manny notices Sean Cameron's lingering affection for Emma. She discusses Sean's affection with Emma, and encourages her to invite him to the wedding. When Emma refuses, Manny takes matters into her own hands and plays matchmaker by secretly giving him an invitation. When things get hectic, Manny reveals she invited him which angers Emma. The two exchange insults about meddling (Emma meddles by telling Snake that Spike is pregnant and is considering an abortion), but quickly cool off. Thus, Manny is the key catalyst to Sean and Emma's second relationship. Seasons 3 and 4: A New Image When Manny shedded her innocent image for a more provocative one, troubles ensued. Her relationships with Emma and JT both became strained, and she also dealt with getting a reputation as the school slut and becoming pregnant. Manny debuts her new look At the beginning of her freshman year, Manny finally started to come into her own. A popular, upperclassman, soccer player named Sully caught Manny's eye, but her attempts to get his attention went unnoticed. While bemoaning her "cute" reputation with Paige, the older girl told her that if she didn't like her image, she should simply change it. Manny took the advice and her new appearance took "sexy" to the edge. While she was ogled by the entire male student body for wearing visible thongs and skimpy tops, Emma and Liberty Van Zandt feared she was sacrificing her dignity. Manny saw it as jealousy, and was particularly indignant to Emma's reaction, telling her to support her like Manny had always supported Emma over the years. Also, J. T. Yorke began to crush on Manny and she seemed to feel the same way until Sully suddenly took an interest in her and asked her out. Manny then gets a new attitude, which Emma refuses to put up with. The School Slut Sully quickly became Manny's "boyfriend", but she grew agitated with his inattentiveness. Although it wasn't witnessed on-screen, it became clear that Manny broke up with Sully when her focus resumed on Craig, who was dating Ashley Kerwin at the time. After a misunderstanding with Ashley led to a big fight and break up at Paige's sixteenth birthday party, Manny met Craig to console him. He took her back to his garage where they proceeded to have sex. Craig kept up his relationship with Manny even after making up and getting back together with Ashley. One night, while trying to hook Emma up with a new boy named Chris, the two girls attended a rave. With Ashley out of town, Craig showed up, on Manny's invitation, and they proceeded to hook up again. Manny took Craig back to Emma's room in the private basement of her house. After leaving the rave alone, Emma discovered Manny and Craig making out on her bed. She kicked Craig out and refused to talk to Manny. The next day at school, the girls had a particularly ugly argument in which Manny called Emma "the prude princess" and Emma called Manny "the school slut." Manny was losing friends left and right, but she continued to secretly date Craig. Over Christmas break, Manny and Craig met up in secret and she begged him to break up with Ashley for her but Craig said he couldn't. After talking to Caitlin Ryan, Craig realized he loved Manny and went to the ice arena to tell her he would break up with Ashley. When Craig went to Ashley's house she gave him a vintage guitar that belonged to her grandfather, so he didn't have the heart to break up with her. Manny was unaware of this, as Craig had told her he ended things with Ashley. Thinking they were history, Manny made a comment to Ashley about dating Craig. A bewildered and upset Ashley slapped Craig across the face and broke up with him while they were performing on stage in front of a large audience. Manny soon followed suit. Pregnancy A nasty flu spread throughout Degrassi once school was back in session, and Manny appeared to come down with it. She felt sick and vomited several times. It soon became obvious, however, that Manny wasn't sick--she was pregnant. Not knowing who else to tell, she confided in Spike Nelson, Emma's mother, who had Emma when she was around Manny's age. Spike comforted her, and even Emma and Craig were supportive. Craig, it seemed, was maybe a little too supportive. His fantasies of raising a family drove Manny to the breaking point when she realized she wasn't ready to have a child. Her conservative Filipino family had previously brought her to see her cousin, who was sent to a convent in the Philippines when she had gotten pregnant. She decided to tell her mother that she was pregnant, and also that she wanted an abortion. Her mother was surprisingly supportive. However, Craig flew off the hinges, his dream of a family shattered. Manny's decision also further harmed her fragile relationship with Emma, who likened Manny's abortion to Spike getting an abortion. Things only got worse when an angry Ashley found Craig and Manny with a baby names book and announced the scandalous pregnancy to the entire student body in the cafeteria. This heightened Manny's new reputation as the school slut. Manny All Alone Manny finished the school year depressed and, for the most part, anti-social. JT, who had been harboring feelings for her since the beginning of the year, attempted to date her, though to no avail. Eventually, however, the two attended the end of the school year dance together, and began dating. Season 4 Manny as a tenth grader, dealt with breaking up with an old boyfriend, JT and finding another Spinner albeit ending it shortly. This year was also highlighted by her continued strained relationship with Emma (at the beginning of the year it appears as if Liberty has taken over as her new best friend.) Although they were best friends by the end of the season and also dealing with a fierce rivalry with Paige Michalchuk. Dealing With JT To celebrate the beginning of a new school year (and to possibly forget about Liberty's unrequited love for Chris which was wrecked by Emma), Liberty invites Manny, J.T., and Toby over to her house for a party in her jacuzzi. While sipping drinks, J.T. jokes around and is ready to jump into the jacuzzi when Liberty's precocious little brother, Danny, pantses him. It is revealed that J.T.'s penis doesn't quite measure up to Manny's old boyfriend's, Craig. She begins chatting with him more which upsets J.T. who sees Craig as a threat. Manny grows annoyed of J.T.'s constant childish antics, and Liberty suggests she breaks it off with him. J.T., however, has plans of his own. Danny orders him a penis pump to help him measure up to Craig. The night he invites her over to finally have sex is consequently the night she wants to break it off. Manny gets nervous and decides to leave the room to get the courage to break up with him. He expects her to be in the bathroom, and when she opens the door seconds later, the penis pump sits on his lap below his shocked face. Manny leaves quickly, and the next morning, breaks it off with J.T., saying that he's too immature for her. Waning friendships Her friendship with Emma continued to be strained, especially as Emma became more of a social climber. She scolded Emma for stealing Chris away from Liberty just because she didn't want to be succeeded by "unpopular" Liberty. When Emma contracted gonorrhea after performing oral sex on Jay who was at the time Alex's boyfriend, Manny informed a boy who was meant to share a kiss with Emma in a school production of Emma's situation. Of her original group of friends, only her relationship with Toby remained steady, with her comforting him following the shooting and the death of Toby's friend Rick, as well as patching up the friendship between him and JT. She even danced with him at a Degrassi function (though the latter may have been to make up for some of her poor behavior around that same time). The Manny-Paige feud In the meantime, Manny focused on cheer squad, but tensions continued to rise between her and Paige. Paige's boyfriend, Spinner Mason, grew attracted to Manny, and eventually Paige and Spinner broke up over it. Manny then began dating Spinner, which was obviously a sore spot for Paige. While Paige carried on an illicit affair with student teacher Matt Oleander, Manny essentially ran the squad as Paige took all the credit. Paige and Manny had an infamous physical fight in the hall, where Matt pulled Manny away and Ms. Hatzilakos pulled Paige away. Manny cracked, "Hey Mr. Pedophile - I mean Oleander - don't make your girlfriend Paige even more jealous of me." From there, Matt would get fired. Manny and her friends Darcy and Chante also broke Paige's leg by dropping her in a cheer routine in front of the entire school: Paige, far from finished, retaliated by stripping Manny of her prom dress (the same one Paige wore) Paige starts to laugh. Troubled relationship with Spinner By the end of her sophomore year, Manny, still battling insecurity, broke it off with Spinner, even though he wanted desperately to stay with her. She had a flirtation with a new kid named Chester that essentially went nowhere but led her to realize that even after everything that happened with Craig she had to stay true to her feelings for Spinner, though she did make him promise never to hurt her. This relationship quickly ended after Manny learned of Spinner's involvement in the school shooting. During summer, Manny played a major part in Kevin Smith's movie being shot at the school. Season 5 Pursuit of an Acting Career Manny is now a junior in high school, and drama is following her now more than ever. She is pursuing a new goal of becoming an actress, battling bad decisions, and exploring old relationships as she appears to have restored her friendship with Emma. She considered plastic surgery and went so far as to make a deposit on her credit card, when her parents found out. Her controlling, abrasive, and verbally abusive father scolded her for being a "loose girl" and a "slut." She stormed out of the house in tears and ran off to a party that Peter invited her to. After a couple of blonde girls made fun of her body, she retreated to the bar, where she proceeded to get drunk on vodka. She took Peter into the bathroom, after Peter said "It's time for this little girl to go home" as she replied "I'm not a little girl". They talked, Peter thinking Manny and him were going to make out. To show that she wasn't interested without hurting his feelings, she said "Maybe we should make a little movie, cause cameras never lie". He replied as he said "You're right Manny, Cameras NEVER lie. This camera would be a great second opinion." He took out his camera and it lead to a little confrontation in a bathroom with Peter, where she said "I'm going to be an actress, an Academy Award winning actress, and you can sell this for a million dollars, cause I'm gonna be famous!" as she exposed herself (topless) for Peter's camera. They both smiled, but Manny didn't know what problems she had next. Later that night, she drunkenly sneaked into Emma's basement, falling through the basement window and landing in a laundry basket. The next day she told Peter to erase the video, cause it would ruin her reputation. He said he'd do it if Manny went out with him, but Manny didn't believe him. While the boys were in the gym, she sneaked off into the boys room, looking for the camera. Peter finds her then they had an argument. After she called him a freak, he forced her to buy him a new camcorder, or he will send it to everybody. He said before she left "Maybe I should start selling tickets to our little movie." he said as he played the video in front Manny, leaving angrily. She tells him at lunch that she would go out with him, but he said no. He sends it to the whole school, kicking Manny off the squad, leaving her best friend, Emma, mad at her and everyone watching the video. When she went home, her parents (mostly her dad) and Manny talked and her dad kicked her out. She moved in with Emma. She does end up with a little vindication in the end when Peter gets in trouble with the school officials and his mother, who is also the school principal, for distributing pornography on school grounds. Moving in with Emma When Peter found her she led him off to the bathroom where Peter took a video of her flashing her breasts. Peter used this to blackmail her by emailing the video to the entire school. Peter's video destroyed Manny's reputation from there on leading Paige to kick her off the spirit squad for the year. When her father discovered she went for breast surgery, he became determined to destroy Manny's promiscuous behavior and obsession of becoming an actress, so he kicked her out of the house. She has been living at Emma's house until the episode "If You Leave". Rekindling relationship with Craig Through all of her trouble, Manny and Craig seemed to be getting close after he protected her from Peter and sympathized for her current situation. Craig later invited her to a wedding gig his band had, leading Ellie to become rudely jealous of the two and almost got into a catfight with Manny. The next day, after some confusion over feelings for Ellie, it seemed Craig still had some feelings for Manny; the two shared a romantic kiss when he visited her at Emma's house where Manny was staying for the time being and proceeded to get back together. Bulimia She was very happy after her movie with Kevin Smith premiered and she even got called by Bernice Vine, the agent who had made her consider plastic surgery. With Emma's life going downhill, they both developed the disorders bulimia (Emma for control, and Manny to lose weight for her audition). Manny has an amusing scene where she is in the cafeteria looking at pizza saying "Please stop saying my name. Stop! Manny, Manny." Emma catches her in the hall eating pizza and Manny tries to tell her that it quelches audition stress. Emma takes her into the bathroom to throw it up, but Manny refuses and walks away. Manny quickly decided it was stupid, but she realized that Emma hadn't stopped. She and Peter (Emma's no longer secret boyfriend) tell Emma's parents and Emma becomes furious and tells Manny to leave, but then Emma falls to the floor and can't breathe. Later she is seen in the hospital with Emma who had a panic attack and tearfully tells her she needs to stop or she's gonna die and Emma tells her she'll try to beat this. Minor Craig-Manny Relationship Issues As Craig leaves for his musical career, he becomes more attached to Ellie. When Manny calls to talk to him, he and Ellie are sitting around his garage chatting about nothing. When Joey comes to hand him the phone, he tells Joey to tell her they're studying. Manny senses some chemistry between Craig and Ellie, but soon drops her suspicions. Season 6 Season 6 begins with Manny trying to keep Emma from relapsing back into her anorexia. As they year progresses she is quickly becoming very popular and shedding her old reputation. She also deals with Craig coming back with a nasty little habit, the loss of a friend and a new romance. Manny and Darcy After Darcy's jealousy of Manny and Spinner's past relationship led to a nasty fight between the two girls in the season five finale, they become friends again. Darcy, the new Spirit Squad captain, invites Manny back on the squad as the team's choreographer and this year Emma has a new romantic dilemma but Manny sticks by her side and tries her best to make this year free of "Emma Drama-rama". When a 16-year old new student named Mia Jones auditions for the squad, both Darcy and Manny are impressed with her. She is soon revealed to be a single mother. While Manny doesn't mind, Darcy becomes very judgmental towards her and despite her impressive skill, does not allow her to be on the squad due to her conservative religious beliefs. Manny won't let that decision stand, so she and Mia confront Darcy about her unfair decision. After the confrontation indirectly causes a huge fight between nearly everyone in the gym, Mia gives up to avoid any further problems. Manny would've quit as well had Mia not convinced her otherwise. Later in the episode, If You Leave, both Manny and Darcy reinvite Mia to join the Spirit Squad to help them win the cheering competition (possibly showing that Darcy was asking for forgiveness). But Mia turns down the offer. Spirit Squad Pictures Captain Darcy and new squad member Peter get some dangerous ideas on how to raise money for the new uniforms. Darcy and Peter decide to sell revealing photos of Darcy online. But their ideas make Manny doubtful. Manny tells them to stop the pictures as it is creepy however Darcy doesn't listen. Manny: "An online admirer paying for photos. That's not creepy at all." Craig's Back - But With A Problem When Craig returns to Toronto in "What it Feels Like to Be a Ghost", Manny notices a different Craig, not her same boyfriend - but she soon comes across the reason behind his strange behavior - he was doing coke. Even though she knew, Manny decided to stay with Craig and when she felt that she didn't fit into "his little club", for a little "boost", so she started using cocaine with Craig. Manny dumps Cocaine and Craig Manny can't take Craig and his cocaine. She tries to stay by his side but he ends up choosing the cocaine over her. So Manny dumps him with these words, "I'm ruining the best one or two days of your life: I'm dumping your ass, Craig. Goodbye." Meanwhile, Ellie is determined to stay by Craig's side through all of this. So when Craig gets a spot opening for Taking Back Sunday, Ellie thinks its all over. Backstage Craig manipulates with Ellie's feelings for him to try and get his cocaine back. Ellie sees through this trick and throws the bag back in his face. Craig then proceeds to take the entire bag of cocaine, trying to numb the roller coaster of losing his girlfriend and his best friend (who he was also romantically rejected by). So when Craig starts to sing, his nose bleeds, signifying him overdosing on cocaine, and it seems in that moment Craig realizes that he has a real problem. When Ellie and Craig get to the airport, Ellie gives Craig a ticket to Calgary, where Joey will be to take him to therapy. Craig admits to Ellie that he did truly love her, and she says that that is not the point, and leaves in tears. Manny Goes Wild Manny tries to get over Craig, and uses Liberty's birthday as an excuse to throw a party. Emma thinks that only a few people will come, so she agrees to it. Outside, JT has been stabbed and after being rushed to the hospital, he is pronounced dead. Manny is slowly going into a relationship with Damien, a boy she danced with at the party. J.T.'s death After Liberty finds J.T. stabbed in the back, everyone goes to the hospital to get him help. Manny is seen breaking down and blaming herself because the party was her idea. Sean tells her it's not her fault, but she still blames herself and when they learn that J.T. died, she breaks down worse than anyone else. Going Home After the murder of JT, Manny's parents decide to reconcile with her after realizing that life was too precious and short to hold a grudge against their own child, and they want her to move back home, possibly because of what happened at Emma's house. That situation briefly created a problem for Emma, Sean, and the rest of the school. They all objected to Manny dating a boy that attended the same school as the boy who killed JT. At least for the time being, Emma and Manny are on good terms and still the best of friends Season 7 Helping Darcy Through Her Rape Manny learns that Peter and Darcy have become an item. Manny lets Darcy know that she is fine with the fact that her friend is dating one of her past enemies. When Manny convinces Darcy to go on a snowboarding trip with her, Darcy invites Peter. While at the resort, Jane tells Darcy and Manny about a party that is going to be held. Manny and Darcy decide to go. After Darcy insults Manny, by telling her that she has no morals or self-respect, Manny leaves Darcy at the party where she gets raped. Manny, thinking that her and Peter willingly had sex, tells Darcy that every girl is entitled to a secret. Soon, word gets out through the school. Then, the Friendship Club finds out and takes Darcy's abstinence ring away. After a bit, Darcy tells Manny that she did not have sex with Peter, but it was rape and that she has chlamydia. Manny then tells Darcy she has to tell somebody. After Manny learns that Darcy was raped, Manny is there to help her and comfort her. One day during Spirit Squad practice, Manny notices Darcy isn't there. She decides to check the showers for her and finds Darcy fully clothed in the shower with her wrist cut open. Manny grabs a towel and tells Darcy to put pressure on it while she dials 911. At the hospital, Peter and Manny talk about how Peter wants to tell Darcy's parents, but Manny tells him not to because rape victims need to heal at their own pace. When Darcy's mother comes up to her and asks why her perfect daughter would try to kill herself, Manny keeps it a secret, knowing that Darcy needs to tell them in her own time. At the end of the premiere, Manny and Peter get Darcy's abstinence ring back for her and Manny tells her that her rape did not count as sex. An Old Flame When Degrassi and Lakehurst merged schools, Manny and Damien were reunited. The two haven't spoken much since the falling out at the cheer competitions and Manny decides to give their relationship another shot. That is until her personal beliefs begin to conflict with Damien's. She believed that it was best to combine the school clubs, while he thought it was better to keep the schools separate. Their relationship doesn't hold up, and they agree to be friends. Damien jokes that it's just because he's black, which Holly J. happens to overhear. Rumors begin to spread that Manny is a racist, but she has Damien clear up the confusion. The Debut In We Got the Beat, Manny is turning 18 and her parents are throwing her a traditional Filipino party to celebrate her becoming an adult. Manny is angry that her parents, especially her father Joesph, won't let her make her own choices, such as an acting career. When she accidentally causes some minor damage to her father's car - only the passenger's side headlight - she goes to Jay for help, and he comes through. With that, she enlists Jay's help in trying to make her parents call off the party. This backfires when Manny's parents love Jay despite that he was expelled from school and is 2 or 3 years older than Manny. This is because Jay is doing well as a mechanic, and his boss is teaching him to run a business. At her debut, she decides to prove to her parents she is a good actress and pretends that she and Jay are dating and that she is going to become a maid instead of going to University. Her father gets mad at her, but Manny tells him she was acting which makes him realize she has a gift and decides to let her become an actress, but insists that she pursue an education. They both compromise when she proposes going on to college with a major in Theater but keeping science as a minor. Manny is happy and the episode ends with her and her father dancing. Her mother winds up dancing with Jay. Interestingly enough, Manny never said anything about her relationship with Jay being an act. Relationship with Jay grows After beginning a relationship with Manny, Jay kisses Manny in front of her door after a date and her father catches them. As an excuse, Manny tells her father they were celebrating their engagement. The next day, Jay gives her a fake diamond ring, as if it were her engagement ring. Jay helps Manny for an upcoming audition at Smithdale, but after a fight, he gives her a DVD of them making out instead. When Manny realizes Jay switched the tapes, she tries to audition without it, but she stumbles when she sees Jay sitting in the back row of the auditorium, causing her to not get accepted into the university. She then tells Jay the ring and the fake engagement means nothing to her and throws the ring on the floor. Soon after she is given another chance and is accepted into the university. She then suggests to Jay that they give the engagement another shot "for real" when she is told of everything Jay did in order to help her get another chance. They meet up at a Purple Dragon concert, where Craig played. Manny seemed to have realized her relationship with Craig had been a 'puppy love', since Craig only took her as a 'substitute' everytime Ashley left. History behind Jay's ring When Manny decides she wants to meet Jay's parents, Jay tells Manny his parents had been deported to Malta and that, since he was born in Canada, he decided to stay behind. Manny then realizes that Jay is taking their engagement seriously upon learning that her ring has a real diamond. At a school dance, Manny shows Jay tickets to Malta and tells him she really wants to meet his parents... until she finds out Jay lied about his parents living there. They start to argue and Manny wonders why he lied. Jay then discovers Manny doesn't have her ring on and he realizes she sold the ring to get plane tickets for Malta. He then tells Manny the ring was really special to him because it belonged to his mother, who died when he was little. The day after, they run into each other while attempting to call the other. They decide to tell each other the truth, so Jay tells Manny what happened with his parents. After his dad got with a third wife, Jay felt like he chose her over him, so he made a scene at his dad's wedding and then lost touch. Manny and Jay decide they would always tell each other the truth and reconcile. Jay goes back to his old ways While Jay is upset with Manny for selling his mother's ring, Manny attends an auction to try to sell the Malta tickets, but they end up buying them back. After Jay and Manny have a fight, Jay breaks into the pawn shop and steals back the ring. He then gives it to Manny the following day. While Manny is happy about this, she later learns that Jay stole the ring from the pawn shop. Manny later confronts Jay about this, and after an argument and the exchange of harsh words, the couple separates. Relationships *Craig Manning **First Relationship ***Start Up: "Take My Breath Away" (210) ***Broke Up: "Take My Breath Away" (210) ****Reason: Craig believed Manny was too immature. **Second Relationship ***Start Up: "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" (307) ***Broke Up: "Holiday, Part 2" (312) ****Reason: Manny finds out Craig didn't break up with Ashley as he said he had. **Third Relationship ***Start Up: "Accidents Will Happen, Part 1" (314) ***Broke Up: "Accidents Will Happen, Part 2" (315) ****Reason: Manny decides to have the abortion against Craig's wishes. **Fourth Relationship ***Start Up: "Weddings, Parties, Anything" (505) ***Broke Up: "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?, Part 2" (610) ****Reason: Craig chooses cocaine over her. *Sully **Start Up: "U Got the Look" (303) **Broke Up: "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" (307) ***Reason: Their relationship wasn't even respectable as he used her for her looks. *Gavin 'Spinner' Mason **Start Up: "Bark At The Moon" (413) **Broke Up: "Eye of the Tiger" (416) ***Reason: Manny finds out Spinner was involved in the shooting. *J.T. Yorke **Start Up: "Our House" (321) **Broke Up: "Mercy Street" (404) ***Reason: Manny believes JT is too immature. *Damien Hayes **First Relationship ***Start Up: "Rock This Town" (611) ***Broke Up: "If You Leave" (613) ****Reason: Manny believed the relationship 'fizzled out'. **Second Relationship ***Start Up: "Love Is A Battlefield" (703) ***Broke Up: "Love Is A Battlefield" (703) ****Reason: The two had different beliefs on how to handle their schools. *Jay Hogart **First Relationship ***Start Up: "We Got The Beat" (707) ***Broke Up: "Bust A Move Part 1" (713) ****Reason: Jay was too clingy **Second Relationship ***Start Up: "Bust A Move Part 2" (714) ***Broke Up: "Ladies' Night" (720) ****Reason: Jay breaks into a pawn shop and steals, and Manny is upset about it. Santos, Manny